Tag: Foreign Film Review
The Intruder | 2020 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
The Sound of My Voice: Meta Delivers Masterful Psychological Identity Horror
Does it come from without or within? ‘It’ being the perception of danger, delusion...
Young Ahmed | Review
Stabbing Backwards: Dardennes “Beet” Misguided Youth into Submission
Up until now, even the most disenfranchised personage in Dardennian cinema had at least a glimmer of...
Lars and the Unreal Girls: The Danish Provocateur Pushes Buttons in Cruel, Grotesque “The House That Jack Built” | Blu-ray Review
The most controversial entry in the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built finally makes its way to Blu-ray...
Beanpole | Review
Life After Wartime: Balagov Crafts Exemplary Portrait of Post-WWII Role of Women
In the words of Plato, “Only the dead have seen the end of...
Come to Daddy | Review
Father of Mine: Timpson Paints Pastiche with Peculiar Debut
While he assembles all the requisite elements for what promises to be a throwback to the...
Charter | 2020 Sundance Film Festival Review
The Custody of Love: Kernell Returns with Emotionally Wrought Portrait of a Mother’s Love
Consider the standard, universally familiar (i.e., acceptable) narrative of fathers who...
High Tide | 2020 Sundance Film Festival Review
The Moon in the Gutter: Chen Turns Tables in Taut Character Study
Argentina’s Veronica Chen adds to the annals of violent amour fou with her...
Exil | 2020 Sundance Film Festival Review
Fugee Fugue: Perceptions and Paranoia Make Bitter Bedfellows in Morina’s Drama
For anyone who’s ever experienced the phenomenon of ‘otherness,’ Visar Morina’s terrific sophomore film...
Summer White | 2020 Sundance Film Festival Review
Sons & Lovers: Patterson Explores the Trouble with Sharing the Love in Subdued Debut
The subject of the single mother is a scenario rife for...
The Corrupted | Review
Crime Time: Scalpello Skirts the Underbelly in Generic, Capable Thriller
We’ve reached a point where something like The Corrupted, the latest offering from Britain’s Ron...
The Europeans (1979) | Review
Munster’s Ball: Ivory’s First Crack at James is Ripe for Restoration
Arguably, Henry James, the famed American author whose most notable acclaim was received in...
Interview: Céline Sciamma – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Cannes 2019 marked an important step in the career of Céline Sciamma, who took home a Best Screenplay Award from her impressive premiere in...
Portrait of a Lady on Fire | Review
Paint it Bright: Sciamma Dazzles with Career-Best, Ardent Period Drama
You only need a few seconds to fall in line with Céline Sciamma’s commanding directorial...
In Fabric | Review
Dress to Kill: Strickland Strikes Again in Luscious Homage to 70s Cinema
“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the...
Little Joe | Review
Stamen Alive: Hausner Examines the Pursuit of Happiness in Cerebral Sci-Fi
It was “the nightmare that threatened the world” and something that came from “deep...
The Kindness of Strangers | Review
Strife Itself: Scherfig Delivers Major Misfire with Manhattan Set Melodrama
Lest we forget, it was Blanche Dubois, the broken seductress of Tennessee Williams’ classic A...
Wisdom Tooth | 2019 PYIFF Review
A seductive debut film, Liang Ming’s Wisdom Tooth is a bildungsroman, both understated and immersive. Vividly rendered characters, organic humor plus a splash of...
Queen of Hearts | Review
The Sorrows of Milf: Dyrholm Puts the Extra in Extra-Marital as the Star of el-Toukhy’s Uncomfortable Drama
Danish director May el-Toukhy crafts a compelling melodrama...
Frankie | Review
A Death in the Family: Sachs Sacks Huppert in Sun Dappled Soap Opera
The latest film from American director Ira Sachs is set in the...
Synonyms | Review
Lost in Translation: Lapid Languishes in Enigmatic, Complex Study on Cultural Identities
The rejection of self and the adoption of persona are prominent themes pouring...
Sister | 2019 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Little Women: Tsotsorkova Poetic Study of Female Solidarity
Svetla Tsotsorkova’s assured sophomore feature proves that the Bulgarian filmmaker has an unparalleled eye for the raw,...
Invisible | 2019 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Hidden Treasure: Jonynas Stages Greek Tragedy against Backdrop of Eastern Europe
A student of Krzysztof Zanussi, Lithuanian director Ignas Jonynas infuses his third feature film...
Cat in the Wall | 2019 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Walls of existence: Politics & Pettiness find a Way Through the Cracks of Everyday Life in Bulgarian Debut
Bulgarian duo Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva’s...
Carturan | 2019 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Pray the Lord My Soul To Take: Sandulescu’s Poignant and Witty Meditation on Mortality
Liviu Săndulescu’s Carturan is a tale about bribery, the uncaring bureaucratic...
The Day Shall Come | Review
Fooling the Children of the Revolution: Morris Returns with Dark, Political Satire
Stakes are perhaps too high for writer-director Christopher Morris’s sophomore film following the...
The Golden Glove | Review
No Glove No Love: Akin Revels in Garish Grotesqueries with Squalid Period Piece
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin resurrects the obscure German serial killer Fritz Honka...
The Moneychanger | 2019 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Money Ain’t for Nothin’: Veiroj Turns to Political Period Caper
A common saying in Montevideo, Uruguay, meant to succinctly condense the city’s appeal and cement...
No.7 Cherry Lane | 2019 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Revew
Remembrance of Things Cats: Yonfan Sketches a Rebellious Love Letter in Animated Debut
The multifaceted Yonfan returns to feature filmmaking for the first time in...
The Barefoot Emperor | 2019 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Barefoot and Stagnant: Woodworth & Brosens Continue Their Belgian Political Satire
While one doesn’t necessarily have to be readily familiar with the 2016 film King...
Olivia (1951) | Review
Teacher Pets: Audry’s Lesbian Melodrama Reclaims the Spotlight in New Restoration
Returning to dispel the historical erasure of queer representation in cinema is Olivia, a...
If Only | 2019 Locarno Film Festival Review
Father of My Children: Elkann Siphons Lovingly from Familial Dysfunction for Debut
The holidays will always be rife for cinematic exploration of familial discord and...
The Nightingale | Review
Bloody White People: Kent Hits Hard with Brutal Revenge Trip
Jennifer Kent follows up her formidable debut The Babadook with a less inventive, but decidedly...
The Days to Come | 2019 New Horizons Intl. Film Festival Review
Becoming a We: Marques-Marcet Keeps it Real with a Micro-Drama of Love & Pregnancy
Completing a trilogy of sorts about life getting in the way...
Here’s Lookin’ at You, Visa: Petzold Posits New Fascism on Classic WWII Novel Transit | Blu-ray Review
Christian Petzold, the shining star of Germany’s Berlin School, unveiled his most provocative narrative reclamation yet with 2018’s Transit, adapted from Anna Segher’s 1942...
Our Time | Review
Love Like Poison: Reygadas Returns with Frustrating but Forthright Marital Drama
Interminable? Yes. Navel-gazing? Perhaps. But furious in its candor? Absolutely. Carlos Reygadas returns for...
La femme de mon frère | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Is There a Doctorate in the House? Chokri Skids and Skates without Moving
Moving from her award-winning short Quelqu'un d’extraordinaire (2013) debut which dealt with...
Yomeddine | Review
Natural Selection: Shawky Shackled by Straight Story
Tackling notions of identity in both a figurative and transfigurative sense, Yomeddine teeters ever so lightly into fable terrain...
Criterion Collection: Let the Sunshine In | Blu-ray Review
Claire Denis had one of her most prominent showings in over a decade with her 2017 title Let the Sunshine In, a melancholy rom...
Oleg | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Immigrant Song: Kursietis Explores a Modern Slave Trade in Sophomore Film
Latvian cinema seems on the verge of an international breakthrough, with various new directors...
Domino | Review
They All Fall Down: De Palma Dallies in Inert ISIS Thriller
It’s hard to believe Domino, the latest film from legendary director Brian De Palma...
Diamantino | Review
Politicizing Camp: Abrantes & Schmidt Post a Win with Imaginative Soccer Satire
After a decade decade working in the short experimental form, festival faves Gabriel Abrantes...
The Traitor | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Witness for the Prosecution: Bellocchio Delivers Vigorous Portrait of the Man Who Took Down the Cosa Nostra
Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio, on the verge of...
Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Dancing…Yeah: Kechiche Spins Like a Record Round in Vacuous Sequel
The French-Tunisian director who won the 2013 Palme d’Or for Blue is the Warmest Color...
Sick, Sick, Sick | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Lover, Come Back: Furtado Hearts Hemoglobin in Sinister Debut
The heart is a lonely killer in Brazilian director Alice Furtado’s apprehensive narrative debut Sick, Sick,...
Parasite | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Judgement in Stone: Joon ho Tackles Privilege in Black Comedy
Strident class disparities in South Korea provide Bong Joon-ho with a novel approach to...
The Orphanage | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Back in the U.S.S.R.: Sadat Goes Back to Soviet-Ruled Afghanistan in Amiable Sophomore Film
Following the success of her celebrated 2016 debut, Wolf and Sheep,...
Heroes Don’t Die | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Crimes of the Heart: Rapin Explores Mediums as Remembrance with Inquisitive Debut
The idea of reincarnation was once a virulent staple of American genre films,...
The Unknown Saint | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Gimme the Loot: Money is the Root of Good and Evil in Aljem’s Debut
Love the sinner and not the sin seems to be the...
Non-Fiction | Review
The French Publisher’s Wife: Assayas Straddles Digital Criminals and Corporate Cannibals in Playful Bon Mot
Hardly a stranger to the back room wheeling and dealing...
Quartet (1981) | Review
Of Human Bondage: Ivory Gets Art Deco Dysfunction in Underrated Rhys Adaptation
Merchant Ivory became the first major company to adapt the work of novelist...
